A METHANE blast ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine early yesterday, killing at least 33 miners and leaving about 70 others trapped, emergency officials said.
The explosion occurred at the Zasyadka mine in the Donetsk region at a depth of more than 1,000 meters at around 3 a.m., the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Oleksandr Soldatov, a spokesman for the ministry's regional branch, said that 33 bodies had been found.
The ministry's chief spokesman, Ihor Krol, said another 70 miners have remained missing throughout the sprawling mine. Rescue workers were trying to bring them to the surface.
Authorities evacuated 359 miners, and 19 were hospitalized, Krol said.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was heading to the site, Krol said.
The Donetsk region is about 640 kilometers southeast of the capital, Kiev.
The figures put the accident among the most serious since Ukraine secured independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Trade unionists said smoke was hampering rescue efforts.
"There is thick smoke in the shafts and for the moment rescue teams are unable to go where they are needed," one trade union official at the mine, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said by telephone.
Official statements said 457 miners were underground at the time of accident. Dozens of rescue teams had brought more than 350 miners to the surface.
The Emergencies Ministry also reported that one miner had died in a cave-in at a coal mine in Horlivka, north of Donetsk.
Accidents are common in Ukraine's coal mines, many of which date from the mid-19th century, and where experts say mining deep below the surface increases the risk of explosions. Zasyadko has experienced several accidents in recent years.
Official statistics put at 80 the death toll in mining accidents in Ukraine this year, though independent trade unions say the figure is higher. Last year, 170 miners died.
Ukraine's most deadly mining accident was in March 2000, when 80 miners were killed in a coal dust explosion at a colliery near the eastern town of Luhansk.
(SD-Agencies)
